The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced a delay to the planned amendment of the TARGET Guideline, pushing back the timeline for allowing non-bank payment service providers (non-bank PSPs) to access TARGET, the eurozone’s key payment infrastructure.
Initially outlined in Decision ECB/2025/2, the amendment was set to extend TARGET participation rights to non-bank PSPs. However, the implementation has now been postponed until October 2025 due to lagging national legislative processes in some euro area countries. Specifically, the delay relates to the incomplete transposition of essential changes to the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) and the Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which are prerequisites for broadening access to the system.
TARGET, which includes both the T2 platform for settling large-value payments and TIPS for instant retail transactions, plays a central role in the EU’s financial infrastructure. The amendment aims to align the ECB’s regulatory framework with a more inclusive and competitive payments ecosystem, where licensed non-bank institutions could play a more active role in cross-border and instant payments.
The Eurosystem has emphasised that the postponement is a necessary step to mitigate legal uncertainties regarding non-bank PSPs’ eligibility. Without full legal alignment across member states, permitting access prematurely could expose central banks and participating institutions to regulatory challenges.
Although the TARGET amendment has been deferred, national central banks (NCBs) still retain the authority to allow non-bank PSPs access to domestic payment systems—provided the required legal changes under SFD and PSD2 have already been adopted at the national level. This offers some flexibility to countries that are ahead in their transposition processes, even as the broader EU implementation remains on hold.
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